[Joe Bowden]

Update to 1.0.1, fast (it’s free).

Encore 1.5 has improved features and stability, and I believe the upgrade is $99 USD.

[Joe Bowden]

A 4:3 menu can’t contain more than 36 buttons, and 16:9 menus can have up to 18 buttons.

I’m sorry, I don’t know what you mean by ‘cut-window’…can you please explain?

[Joe Bowden]

It should work if PowerDVD is installed.

I have PowerDVD installed, and I can also play my Encore-produced DVDs through WMP.

[Joe Bowden]

A DVD will not play in Windows Media Player unless a software DVD player package has already been installed on the system, which also installs MPEG-2 video decoders. The reason is that MPEG-2 decoders (necessary for DVD playback) are licensed technology.

[Joe Bowden]

Since it crashes when transcoding to AC3, I really think it’s somehow related to Liquid Edition’s AC3 encoder/decoder, or another AC3 encoder/decoder on your system.

You may be able to confirm this by importing a WAV file (no AC3) and changing your project encoder settings to PCM or MPEG-1 Layer II, and then see if it finishes building without error.

[Joe Bowden]

The only style setting that can be changed in Encore is Drop Shadow…everything else must be done in Photoshop. Note: there is a clear all styles Style in Encore as well…that will strip them all out.

[Joe Bowden]

I’ll give you a thumbnail sketch (no pun intended): let’s say you want just a single button to play different video in it than what it’s linked to.

1. Save your menu as a file (Menu > Save As File), you’ll import this PSD file into PPro later.
2. Create a new PPro project, either standard 4:3 or 16:9, depending on your DVD project needs.
3. Import the PSD file you created in step 1
4. Import the video that you want to play in the thumbnail
5. Add it to the next video track, then scale it down so it fits in the button
6. Make sure both clips are of equal length, then export an AVI from PPro with Optimize Stills unchecked (important)
7. Import this AVI into Encore
8. Alt-drag it into your menu
9. File > Render Motion Menus

Hope it helps,
Joe

[Joe Bowden]

Encore displays a poster frame for the linked object only (if there’s a video thumbnail layer in the button).

If you want other video in there, you’d have to prepare the menu background in PPro or AE, then import it as an asset and make it the video background of the menu.

[Joe Bowden]

Sounds like some other AC3 decoder may be clashing with Encore’s.

[Joe Bowden]

The workaround is the only way. Each menu on a DVD is an MPEG file, and for DVD menus, only a single audio track is permitted.